STUFF democracy, we're in charge. That, clearly, is the view of Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly, evident in a leaked email.

Ruthless (pictured below) has promised to change the law if a tenant campaigner in East London wins her court bid to halt the transfer of council houses to a housing association.

Carol Swords is asking the High Court for a judicial review of the handover of 2,200 homes from Tower Hamlets Council to Old Ford Housing Association.

Tenants voted for the transfer by a SEVEN vote majority on a turnout of only 46 per cent. Carol says the ballot was marred by irregularities. If she wins, the handover is halted - but Ms Kelly intends to stuff an amendment into the Local Government Bill.

The government will change the law to stop Ms Swords - and anybody else - from preventing the surrender of the nation's council homes to housing associations, which are private landlords under another guise.

Carol is rightly angry: "They say they're going to consult us, but when the consultation doesn't go their own way, they change the law."

New Labour's disposal of the public housing stock to high-rent housing associations has largely gone unnoticed, because tenants have too few people to speak up for them. Good luck, Carol.